Prius Gen 3 Mains 3 Phase Inverter Logic Board

[Jack Bauer]

Time for a new logic board for our trusty Prius gen 3 inverter. This one is not for running electric vehicle traction motors however. Rather it lets you take either 230v single phase ac or a battery between around 150v to 600v and make 3 phase 400vac at 50Hz or 60Hz for running 3 phase equipment. Equipment say like a pair of 4kw 3 phase submersible water pumps to prevent a flood from ruining your home or workshop as just happened to me over the past few days.

Need 3p+n? Can do that via a delta to star transformer for that authentic 3 phase feel.

Uses the EG8030 from EGMicro as the brains of the operation:
https://www.egmicro.com/chip-centers/7/EG8030/
and for those not fluent in Chinese :
https://translate.google.com/translate? ... FEG8030%2F

I'll release the design and post more info over the next few weeks once my feet dry out.

[ZooKeeper]

More important to stay dry!

[Maker_of_Things]

Will you be selling these as kits?

Or maybe as an add on for car use?
1ph and 3ph power in the back of the car would be very useful!
Also speed control for running the lathe or other machine tools.

[slow67]

Will you be selling these as kits?

Or maybe as an add on for car use?
1ph and 3ph power in the back of the car would be very useful!
Also speed control for running the lathe or other machine tools.

Yeah I was thinking 240v single phase would finally make higher than 48V volt home storage systems much more affordable.

[Isaac96]

Very cool. I hope it can run 120 for us Americans (lots of power outages from fires these days).
EDIT Looking at datasheet, seems to be 3phase only, and have an imbalance detector. I'll probably have to find a different solution.

[Jack Bauer]

Yeah I'll do a kit at some point. Can use the EGS8010 for single and split phase 120-0-120 systems.

[NiHaoMike]

Is that 3 phase VFD control chip cheaper than a STM32? I'm under the impression an off grid inverter can use the exact same STM32 board used for EV conversions, minus the parts that deal with motor position sensing.

What would be nice is if there was an off the shelf control chip for a zero export grid tie inverter. I'm not aware of any (let alone ones designed to connect the grid current sensors via PLC) so I'm doing my own design based on a FPGA for my use.

[SRFirefox]

This is exciting! Thanks for the reference, Damien. How can I help out on this project?

[Jack Bauer]

https://www.patreon.com/evbmw
Would probably be the best as this is what enables me to work on these projects.

[SRFirefox]

Already done! I'll keep an eye on your progress then.

[Jack Bauer]

Thanks. Will get to this asap. Just so many projects:)

[SRFirefox]

A thought as I was looking at this, but have you considered using either the buck-boost section or MG1 power stage as the power stage of a PFC controller for phase conversion? If there's no plans to use it as such, I can see exactly where I could inject my own control signals into the V1 board to get the same result.

[zilion]

I wonder if you could use motor coils as a transformer?
This way you could use your e-car as a moving 3-phase power station

[SRFirefox]

Checking in to see the current status of this project and to see if I can volunteer for any testing/design/troubleshooting or if there is something that means the Prius inverter isn't up to the task.

[angusmf]

I have one of these fellas now--thanks Damien! The design files are now available on his github as well.
Trying to figure out how it works before even starting assembly. For context, I am not an EE or any kind of E, just make software for a living and play with cars and have a very basic (mis)understanding of power electronics picked up from my dad and this forum.

I'm in the US and have a small mill with a 3 phase motor which will be the first thing we try to use this for. The data plate says 230/460V--Damien's posts above say 400V. The motor definitely will be loaded, so I wouldn't expect 400V to work. The datasheet is hard for a dude like me to get through. I don't see any reference to an expected output voltage. As near as I can tell from that and the schematics, we're using this in synchronous open-loop and setting or adjusting the voltage with a trim-pot attached to pin 8 that is maybe expecting a reference of 2.5V. It appears the 3-phase feedback pins are not connected, and the voltage on pin 8 is generated by dividing a 5V supply from the board. Does any or all of that check out?
If so, do I experimentally find a good value for that trim pot and adjust to ~460V? I can of course start with the 4.7k specified and go from there since 400V is kinda close. Max input for that voltage feedback pin seems to be a full 5V, but what would that correspond to?
Is the buck/boost used here, and do I need to mess with it to get what I'm after?
If using DC input, is this connected as per the wiki for the normal Prius mod board?
How/where would one connect up the single phase AC input?
I guess last thing to optionally figure out is if 115VAC input will work at all (say if the load wasn't going to pull more than the 15-20A our wiring will give up)

Thanks in advance for any guidance or answers. I'll be sure to post my own findings and Youtube videos as success permits.

[NiHaoMike]

I'm in the US and have a small mill with a 3 phase motor which will be the first thing we try to use this for. The data plate says 230/460V--Damien's posts above say 400V. The motor definitely will be loaded, so I wouldn't expect 400V to work.

The motor specifying two voltages means it likely can be wired for either one, check the terminal block. You'll probably want to wire it for 230V.

Is the buck/boost used here, and do I need to mess with it to get what I'm after?
If using DC input, is this connected as per the wiki for the normal Prius mod board?
How/where would one connect up the single phase AC input?
I guess last thing to optionally figure out is if 115VAC input will work at all (say if the load wasn't going to pull more than the 15-20A our wiring will give up)

The boost converter can be used for PFC boost. Add a bridge rectifier to connect the battery side to AC. You'll also need some sort of PFC controller driving the low side boost IGBT, the high side IGBT should be wired to stay off. Operating frequency is about 12kHz.

[Jack Bauer]

Of course feedback is used. The board provides for EITHER open loop via the pot or closed loop via 3 feedback transformers. Rectifiers are on the pcb. Sorry again but due to house moving I don't have time to go through it in detail.

[angusmf]

Of course feedback is used. The board provides for EITHER open loop via the pot or closed loop via 3 feedback transformers. Rectifiers are on the pcb. Sorry again but due to house moving I don't have time to go through it in detail.

Yah, no worries. I'm in no rush, so just taking my time, figuring it out, learning a bit. Thanks again.

[angusmf]

The boost converter can be used for PFC boost. Add a bridge rectifier to connect the battery side to AC. You'll also need some sort of PFC controller driving the low side boost IGBT, the high side IGBT should be wired to stay off. Operating frequency is about 12kHz.

Thanks!

[slociviccoupe]

Chiming in. So could this be used for prius engine driving transaxle with mg1 and mg2 spun together to make a home generator. Use this boatd and gen 3 inverter to provide single phase power.

Running prius engine on hydrogen seems feasable.

[arber333]

Hi
I know i am just providing more load, but have you considered using this in both applications?
One way would be 3phase generation from a car battery, but the other way would be to provide DC either chademo or CCS power to the car from 3phase household. A full V2G solution.